1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a dimming controlling apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus for and method of controlling dimming of a lighting appliance used in a street lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, many lighting appliances which reflect and refract light emitted from a light source and through which light passes, are installed in many living spaces. Such lighting appliances are classified into incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps, individual reading lights, garden lights, street lamps, and the like according to their purposes.
Among these lighting appliances, street lamps are electrical devices that are installed along streets for street lighting, traffic safety, or fine view. Such street lamps are classified into multi-street lamps, suspension street lamps, and abacus-shaped street lamps according to the installation type. A plurality of lighting appliances, for example, several tens or several hundreds of lighting appliances, are generally installed along streets. Such lighting appliances are controlled via a driving method so that a control center or a main distributing board automatically controls on/off lighting in the night by using a photoconductive element, such as a cadmium sulfide cell.
Currently, many lighting appliances have been replaced with lamps having low power consumption and high brightness. For example, mercury lamps, sodium lamps, and halogen lamps have been replaced with light emitting diodes (LEDs) that have very low electrical energy consumption and are ecofriendly. LED devices generally have a structure in which at least two LEDs are arranged in an array and driven so as to guarantee brightness in the vicinity of the LED devices. LED devices have low power consumption, high brightness, and good durability, and thus, use thereof has increased.
However, when the lighting appliances are controlled by the control center, they cannot be controlled with different settings according to the environment in which each of the lighting appliances is installed. In addition, even when the lighting appliances are controlled using a photoconductive element, their illumination intensities cannot be actively controlled according to the peripheral illumination intensity according to their purposes. In addition, when an LED is used as a light source for a light device, the LED may overheat, and thus, the life span of the LED may be reduced, and the efficiency of the LED may be lowered.